Cisco bets big on telcos’ network transformation drive in India

Cisco will expand its R&D operations in Ontario, looking to add 1,700 jobs in the Canadian province over the next six years.NEW DELHI: Networking major Cisco expects its service provider business to grow exponentially in the coming years, as the country's telecom service providers transform their networks from legacy Time-division multiplexing (TDM)-based networks to complete Internet-protocol (IP) based networks.

The IP-fication of networks help telcos bring flexibility into the network, which is required to offer data and other new services in personalized and customized manner. Cisco is one of the leading players in switching and routing equipment that form the fundamental IP networks.

Sanjay Kaul Managing Director, Service Provider Business, India & SAARC, Cisco, told ET that the company is currently working with almost all the telecom operators to help them transform the network in to IP network. "In 3G and 4G, the backend you need is all IP. As 3G and 4G grow, our business grows exponentially," he said.

Kaul said that Vodafone India has already transformed its network fully into an IP-based network, while Bharti Airtel is fast catching up to complete the transition. Other players like Idea Cellular, Aircel, Uninor and Reliance Communications are also transforming their respective networks to strengthen their data services.

Cisco, according to Kaul, has a 100% market share within the Reliance Jio network. "We have built a complete end-to-end IP network for Reliance Jio. We are providing complete data centers, security solutions, packet network," Kaul said.

Industry analysts say that mobile broadband users will grow to 600 million over the next five years, from the current base of 75 million. For as many as 600 million mobile data users, telcos need to build tremendous network capability to handle the demand, create personalized service, and maintain quality of service.

With IP technology, telcos can build a network architecture where provisioning of new services is faster, and can embed data analytics capabilities to offer customized and tailored services, which would help them increase stickiness of customers and ARPUs. "IP coupled with virtualization can help telcos achieve drastic cut in capital and operational expenditures," Kaul said.

Kaul added due to the flexibilities combined with newer technologies telcos would be able to offer data services 30% cheaper over a period of time.

Cisco is currently in talks with Indian telcos for its intelligence analytics solution, called Mobility IQ, which creates ability for telco to get insights into their network. "In data business, every consumer is unique and has different needs. You need to build analytical capability in your network and you need to create network architecture that is cost effective," Kaul said.